Pittsburgh, PA

The city bus was not very full as it made its way through the downtown streets. There were only about seven people in total. Devin Beach sat near the front of the bus, dozing in and out of sleep. It had been a long day at work and he just wanted to get home, lay on the couch, and watch TV… provided his wife didn't give him a hard time. A bump on the road jolted him from drifting off again. He cursed silently to himself and sat up. So much for trying to sleep. He took a look around at the other passengers with him. To his left, a little girl was sleeping with her head in her mother's lap, who was stroking the daughter's auburn hair. To his right, a teen couple was making out, either oblivious to the other people watching him or not caring. Devin rolled his eyes with a soft chuckle and looked out the window. The lights from the buildings and the lampposts made him think of the 89.9 FM smooth jazz radio station. It was his favorite radio station. That music helped him relax and it would be perfect for a nice bus drive like this. And right about now, he needed to relax. He quickly glanced behind him and saw a black businessman in his suit and tie talking on his cell phone. To the businessman's left was a white 20-something year-old young woman with ginger hair and lip piercings, wearing a long-sleeved blouse and jeans. She was sleeping... her head leaning against the window. Devin shook his head… he envied her. After about 15 minutes passed by, the bus' automated announcer chimed, "Now arriving at Finley Apartments Phillips Drive." Devin looked out the window and noticed he had arrived at the apartments. He quickly got up, thanked the driver, and hopped off the bus. He quickly walked towards the steps that led to his apartment. The sooner he got home, the sooner he could lay down.

"Excuse me, sir?" a woman's voice came from behind him. Devin turned around to see a young woman, her long brown hair coming past her shoulders.

"Yes?" Devin replied.

"Hi," she said with a smile, "You live here, right? You're a mechanic?"

Devin nodded, "That's right."

Her smile grew wider, "Well, it's a good thing I caught you. I live here too and I think my car broke down or something. You mind helping me out?"

The man nodded right away with a smile, "Sure. As long as you pay me."

They shared a laugh as she led him towards her car. "I tried starting it this morning, but it wasn't working. I had to take the bus to work and I was late."

She handed her keys to Devin and he got into the driver's seat to start the car. The car sputtered and died. "Hmmm…" he tried starting the car again with the same results. "Sounds like the battery's dead… or at least dying. If you want, I can give you a jumpstart."

"Sure," the woman said with a smile, "the jump cable's back here if you need it."

Devin nodded as he made his way to the trunk of the car, opened it and leaned inside to reach for the jump cables. Suddenly, he felt a jolt of electricity in his neck and his world went black.

Woodbridge, VA

Gabriel Williams sat up with a cry, jolted awake from a nightmare. He was breathing very heavily, his bare chest is sticky with sweat. He fell back down on the bed and sighed deeply. It was the fourth nightmare in as many weeks. Out of all the days to have a nightmare, this was the worst. He looked over to his girlfriend, Jill, who was sleeping soundly beside him, facing away. He gave a small smile. At least there was something good about this day: she was with him. Gabriel ran his hand across her white shoulders, arms, and bare back, being careful not to wake her. He and Jill had been together for almost three years. The coming February would mark their third anniversary, on Valentine's Day, as cheesy as it sounded.

After giving her a kiss on her cheek, he sat up and looked at the alarm clock on the night table. It was 6:13 am. The alarm was supposed to go off at 6:30, so at least he had a head start, albeit a small one, but he could use it to his advantage. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, headed to the bathroom, took off his pajama pants, and got in the shower. As the hot water cascaded down his hair and back, he closed his eyes and thought about his dream. It was a memory from his childhood.

He was in a dark closet, as his 6-year-old self, rolled up in a little ball, crying and shivering in fear. It was pitch black; all he could see was the wooden, maple brown door. He heard his father's voice on the other side, yelling at him, slurred from alcohol. Suddenly, the door began to grow in length. It slowly grew until it was as tall as a redwood tree. As it grew, the pitch of his father's voice deepened in correlation to the height of the door. Suddenly the door swung open, and he could see the silhouette of his father, just as tall as the door. The shape of a beer bottle in his left hand. His huge right hand came down and was on the verge of striking him. Gabriel was so caught up in the dream and the memory that he didn't notice his girlfriend had gotten into the shower with him. When he felt her arms wrap around his waist and her lips kiss his back, he snapped back to the present.

"Good morning," she said as she continued to kiss his dark back.

"Good morning," he said as turned around to kiss her properly, "Sleep well?"

Jill nodded, "And you?" Gabriel's silence gave her his answer. "Another nightmare?"

Gabriel nodded, "And today of all days," he took a bottle of shampoo, "but let's not talk about that." He made a circle with his finger and she smiled and turned around, "I want to know what's in store for me tonight," he squirted some shampoo in his hands and began washing her dirty blond hair.

"Like I'm going to tell you," Jill teased.

"Awwww," Gabe moaned in feigned disappointment, "Why not?"

"Because it's supposed to be a surprise," she leaned back against his chest, "All presents are supposed to be surprises."

Gabe kissed the top of her head, "No hint?"

Jill shook her head, "Nope."

He placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to turn her around, "Please?"

"Oh, no!" she turned back around with a laugh, "You're not reading me, mister! That's cheating. And you promised that you won't read me." He playfully whined and turned her around again, giving her his best puppy eyes, even pouting his bottom lip. She eyed him up and down and gave a sly smile, "One hint." When he nodded for her to give it, she said nothing, but simply placed a hand on his crotch, "That good enough for you?"

He smiled back, "That's more than enough," he answered, kissing her again.

Once their shower was finished, they quickly dried off and headed back into the bedroom to get dressed. Gabriel put on a pair of black slacks, a white shirt, a black tie with thin white stripes, and a black suit jacket. Jill simply sat on the bed and watched him get dressed, biting her lower lip. This was one of the best parts of her day. Gabe knew it, so he took his time on purpose. "What time is your interview?" she asked.

"8:30," Gabriel answered as he buttoned his shirt, "When does your shift start?"

"12:30, but don't worry about me," she laughed, "I have plenty of time. But you need to get out of here if you want to beat the traffic."

Gabriel adjusted his tie and glanced at the clock. It was 6:30. If traffic permitted, he would make it to Quantico early. "I will. I've been looking forward to this pretty much all my life. I'm not going to mess it up." With that, he did a quick wardrobe check and kissed Jill one more time, "I'll be back later tonight."

Jill smiled, "I'll be waiting, birthday boy."

Quantico, VA

Gabe sat across the table from the unit chief of Quantico's BAU Aaron Hotchner as Hotchner looked over the personnel file and CV of Gabriel. Gabe could see that Agent Hotchner was impressed with what he read. Hotch looked up from the files he was holding and saw Williams was looking around his office. "Sorry for the mess, SSA Williams," he joked, pointing at the stack of case files on his desk.

Gabriel smiled, "It's not a problem, sir."

Hotch looked through the files again. Gabriel graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from Cornell University and a Master's Degree in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Directly after graduation from John Jay, he joined the FBI and became a Special Agent at the age of 24. He climbed the ranks and became a Supervisory Special Agent. Now, ten years later, here Gabriel was, being appointed to the BAU at his supervisor's request, Unit Chief Phillip Harrington. "Impressive record."

Gabriel nodded in thanks, "Thank you, sir."

"According to your unit chief Harrington, you solved 93% of your cases in the FBI." Hotch looked up, a small smile on his face. "If I may ask, how did you manage that?"

"It was all about placing myself in the suspect's shoes," Gabriel answered, "I didn't focus on just the evidence, but the crime scene as well. Looking at the crime scene and the evidence and making deductions from them. Not to mention my ability to read people."

Hotch raised an eyebrow, "Read people?"

Gabriel chuckled and explained, "Not psychically, of course. I read their body language, and the microexpressions in their face."

Hotch nodded. He had heard about FBI agents being trained in the Facial Action Coding System before, "Like Paul Ekman."

Gabriel nodded, "Exactly. Of course, I'm nowhere near as proficient as Dr. Ekman is. But my training was very helpful during interrogations and questioning witnesses. I was able to read their face and body language, know whether they were telling me the truth or not, or what they're feeling. I'm… what you call a 'natural'. I was able to read microexpressions and body language without proper training. But once I was trained in FACS at John Jay and the FBI, I became more proficient."

Hotch smiled, "Well, I must say, I am very impressed. I think you will be an excellent addition to the team," and Hotch knew they could use one. Especially since SSA Blake's sudden departure to pursue a teaching position. The men stood and shook hands, "Welcome to the team, SSA Williams."

Gabriel's smile was big as well, "Thank you, sir."

Hotch returned the smile, "I'll get in touch with you on when you can start -" Hotch was interrupted by a knock at the door. Before he could respond, the door opened and a young lady with thick-rimmed glasses and blond hair stood on the other side.

"Sorry, sir," the young lady flustered, "I know you're interviewing, but we just got called in on a case."

"It's fine, Garcia." He gestured towards Gabriel, "This is SSA Gabriel Williams. He'll be joining the team."

Penelope smiled and walked over to shake Gabriel's hand, "Nice to meet you, sir."

"Sir?" Gabriel laughed, "I doubt I'm that much older than you."

Garcia shrugged and chuckled, "Force of habit. Sorry." She tilted her head, "Shall we go, Hotch?"

"I'll be right there, Garcia." Hotch answered and she left in a hurry, the sound of her high heels clicking. "I usually don't do this, and I know you may not like it, but would it be possible for you to join us on this case? We're an agent short and we need all the help we can get." It sounded more like a command than a question. A polite command, but a command nonetheless.

Gabriel sighed. This wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. He was looking forward to spending his birthday with Jill and not trying to catch criminals. Not now, anyway. "Sure," he answered hesitantly, "But would you mind if I made a quick call first?"

Hotch nodded, "A quick one."

Gabriel quickly pulled out his phone and called Jill. The phone barely rang once before she answered, "What is it?" She sounded very nervous.

"Well… I have good news and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

"Good news, of course."

"The good news is I got the job."

"YES!" she squealed with delight, "So, what's the bad news?"

He paused before answering, "There's a case that they want me on right now. They're down an agent and they need my help."

Silence for a few moments. Then, a long sigh, "Well, go ahead and do what you got to do. I understand."

Gabriel rubbed his forehead. He knew she was disappointed. "I'm sorry, Jill. I didn't know this was going to happen. I thought I'd be hired and then they'd let me know when they needed me."

"It's ok," she replied, and he could hear she was trying to smile, but he knew that she most likely felt otherwise. "I know what it's like. I'm an EMT, after all. I get called away from you sometimes on big emergency calls."

"Thanks, princess," Gabriel managed to smile a little, "I love you."

"Love you more," she responded before quickly hanging up.

Gabriel sighed and hung up his phone and turned back to face Hotch. "I'm ready."

Hotch said and led Gabriel out from his office into a meeting room where several other agents were seated at a round table. "Everyone," Hotch announced, "this is SSA Gabriel Williams. He'll be joining the team."

An older, goateed gentleman stood and shook Gabriel's hand, "SSA David Rossi. Welcome to the team."

Gabriel gave a small smile, "Pleasure to meet you, sir."

A bald, muscular man then stood and shook hands with Gabriel, "Agent Derek Morgan."

A blonde agent walked over to Gabriel, "Agent Jennifer Jareau, but everyone calls me JJ."

"I may stick with Agent Jareau for now," Gabriel said with a smile, "If you don't mind… Only until I get comfortable working with you all."

JJ smiled back and nodded, "Not at all."

There was a younger man seated at the table nodded in recognition, raising his hand a bit. "I'm Dr. Spencer Reid." Gabriel nodded in recognition and sat down in the empty seat next to him.

"So…" Garcia quickly walked around the table, handing out folders to each agent, her heels clacking, "Here's the case file. We're going to Pittsburgh, PA. Three men were found in abandoned buildings tied to a chair, all beaten, their hands smashed." She picked up the remote on the table and brought up a picture of a middle-aged Caucasian male, "The first victim was Marc Hays, a schoolteacher." Another picture, this time of a middle-aged African-American. "Gerald Lyons, a lawyer." A third picture came up of a younger Caucasian male, "And Devin Beach, the latest victim, was a thirty-year-old mechanic."

"The UnSub's crossing racial and age lines," Derek noted, "so the victims are not a surrogate for anyone."

"And they were all of different socio-economic backgrounds," Hotch mused, "lower-class, middle-class, upper-class. So I doubt money is a motive."

"You said their hands were smashed?" Rossi asked.

Garcia nodded and brought up some crime scene pictures on the screen. The hands were mangled and some bones were poking through the skin, "Coroner's report says all the bones in the hand were broken. And not just broken… but crushed… like with a hammer or vice or something. And their faces were not much better. Broken jaw, black eyes, you name it."

"What was the cause of death?" Gabriel asked.

Garcia took a deep breath and showed them the crime scene photos, "Their throats was cut from ear to ear."

"That looks personal," Reid said.

"And angry," JJ added, "Whoever did this held lots of hostility towards these men. The UnSub smashed their hands, beat them, and then cut their throat."

"It looks like they were interrogated or at least tortured," Gabriel noticed, "Was there a connection between any of the victims? Were they involved with a mob or organized crime?"

Garcia shook her head, "No, not that I found."

"This is the third victim in twelve days, and the latest victim was found yesterday." Hotch said as he stood up, "We need to get there as soon as possible and stop them. Wheels up in thirty."